


Pink and Gold

by HerbertBest



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1900s, Alternate Universe - Plague Doctors, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Blow Jobs, Cunnilingus, Dating, F/M, Historical AU, Making Love, Romance, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 07:13:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14183691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerbertBest/pseuds/HerbertBest
Summary: Dan takes Holly to the theater, and romance continues to blossom between them.





	Pink and Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheseusInTheMaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheseusInTheMaze/gifts).



> A sequel to Theseus' [The Times, They Are A ’ Changin’.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13013853)
> 
> This fic briefly quotes the Jane Austen novel "Pride and Prejudice" at the very end, which is in the public domain, and does not belong to me.

Dan didn’t quite know how he’d gotten himself into such a pot of jam.

He was an ordinary guy; the son of jewelers, who had struck out in his own direction, seeking a place where he wouldn’t be picked out as different, and where he could make merry. He had chosen bartending for a reason – he was social, he was good with people. He hadn’t expected to meet a beautiful, respected plague doctor in his work, but she had become a brusque customer cum one night stand.

Then his lover. Then his friend. And now…

Dan did not toss skirts indiscriminately; he was not a playboy like his friend Ego, with an easy oily grin and a way with the ladies. His friendliness only went so far, and only three women had captured his heart and body before Holly, only to reject him. Dan believed in turtledoving with the willing, but only if he had feelings for the maid in question. 

And god help him, did he have feelings for Miss Holly.

He had no idea how she felt in return. Holly was a closed book while he was flagrantly open, almost obnoxiously so. He knew she loved nature, and birds; she liked it when they held hands as they strolled on the promenade. She responded with eagerness when he told her he had tickets to see Miss Jenny Lind sing at the Covent and that he wanted to take her more than anything. But where she’d come from, who she’d known before the Order had become her life – Dan couldn’t say he knew a thing.

It was frustrating and intriguing at the same time.

But he didn’t put pressure on her – he didn’t want to lose the fragile bond they’d so carefully constructed. So he courted her with patient loving, with kisses, with trips to her aviary and with trips about the city. They’d seen many a musicale, many a play together, and Dan could remember every second of it, giving him life during the long, dull stretches of his day.

Dan knew what was happening; why he smiled so whenever he thought of her. He knew he was falling in love, for the first time in his thirty-nine years. 

And he was too petrified to tell her so.

 

*** 

“By the saints, you’re gorgeous.”

He could always tell when Holly felt bashful, even though her face was covered; the exposed tips of her fingers turned pink as she slid them into her brown-colored kid gloves. The outfit she wore bespoke of plague doctor elegance but had flashes and trim of grey, royal purple and pink that glinted at him as her skirts shifted. She lay her tiny hand on his long arm and said, “will I do a service to the great Miss Lind?”

“Definitely,” Dan gushed. He guided her around the wet patches left over from the melting snowbanks piled about the sidewalk. Winter had been long, yet he hadn’t minded it with the visceral annoyance he usually experienced when thinking of the season. “The hall is several blocks away. Would you have me hire a cab?”

She shook her head. “I’ve walked much further,” she reminded him.

He smiled, straightening up his posture – he wore his best suit and his nicest shoes, black all over, his hair tied back into a Que. It didn’t occur to him until they passed by the front of McEarly’s Store what a serious, severe-looking couple they made.

The Queen Victoria was a regal theatre; new, frequently filled with middle and upper class families who wished an evening’s entertainment. The molding on the outside was severe and Georgian in style, opening to a lush interior made of polished sandstone-colored marble that was gilt in gold and green with thick, plush red carpets covered with golden fleur de lis. Roses had been carefully molded to last forever upon the plaster banisters, and Holly’s fingers skated against them as he took her hand and led her to the ticket taker. The man glanced at the stubs, nodded, and pointed into the dark belly of the theatre. “Dress circle, row ten. You’re sitting on the end of the aisle - you can’t miss ‘em.” 

Dan tipped his chin, thanking the man kindly. Dress circle was up two long flights of stairs, and Holly held a corner of her petticoats up with the tips of her fingers to keep herself from falling over. Enraptured, Dan didn’t notice that the rest of the people heading into the theatre were giving them quite the wide berth. Not until the man at the end of the aisle looked at their stubs nervously, taking in Holly’s elaborate bonnet. 

“Ma’am, can you remove your hat?”

Holly’s posture grew rail-stiff beside Dan. “The hat, yes, but not the mask.”

“We would never ask a plague doctor to remove her equipment.”

Holly nodded, and together she and Dan descended down the small flight to their seats. To Dan’s relief, they gave them an excellent view of the stage; he helped Holly into the seat, generously giving her a spot on the aisle, and held her hat as they leaned against the long stone barrier keeping the dress circle seats quarantined. The lights were dim and soft, and when the orchestra started up Dan could feel the kettle drums booming in his chest.

Miss Lind was a fine enchantment, singing in English, Italian, and French, a mixture of tunes that had him mouthing the words along with her own eager emoting. He glanced at Holly and saw a slight quiver of her shoulders; was she moved? Was she crying? Dan reached for her hand, took it delicate into the clumsy, oversized grip of his.

His heart raced when she squeezed it back.

At intermission, he took Holly to the galley, where she bought him a glass of wine. She shook her head when he offered her a drink. “I’ll wait to be home,” she said. Dan wished in that moment they could share the fruity sweetness of the cup, but bowed to her wishes. Sitting together, happy and at peace, they were startled by a sudden laugh and the flashy appearance of Ego, who wore a dandy’s grey suit, a large top hat, and bifocal glasses. He had his arm around a dark haired girl wearing purple lace and swung a cane as he came to a stop before them.

“Daniel! You’re looking well!” he pointed at Holly with the tip of his cane and said, “this is the infamous Holly?”

“It is,” he said, beaming with pride.

“I’ve heard of your deeds Madame; I understand they’re exceptional.”

Holly shook her head. “I only do what I’ve been trained to do,” she said simply. “And what my order’s done for centuries now.”

“It takes bravery to stay among people with a purpose.’ He sighed dramatically and pointed to the woman on his arm. “This is my dearest Miss Suzy. Suzy, Doctor Holly Conrad of the Order of the Plague Doctors.”

Suzy snapped her gum as she reached for Holly’s hand. “Hiya!” she said.

“Hello,” Holly said back, her tone amused. “How do you do?”

“Just fine! Ego promised to show me a good time tonight, but he didn’t’ say anything about a famous singer or nothing!”  
“I hope you enjoy the rest of the concert,” Holly said. Dan grinned at Suzy; he liked the girl, hoped she’d make an honest man of Ego – they weren’t getting any younger after all, and confirmed bachelorhood wasn’t the nicest way to spend your golden years when you could be cuddling a beautiful gal. The small talk ended exactly on the hour when they all reconvened to finish listening to the music. 

The rest of the night passed in a blur, but Dan didn’t let go of Holly’s hand until they were eating fish and potatoes at a nearby restaurant. She pumped him eagerly for information about Ego and his lady, but Dan didn’t know much himself. Then they talked about the upcoming spring, the time they’d spend together. Arm in arm, their bellies full, they walked back to Dan’s apartment and let themselves into his room.

For the first time, Holly seemed to take note of her surroundings as Dan made to divest her of her clothing. Her waistcoat was unbuttoned and her petticoats down before he reached for her mask.

She hesitated for a second before placing an ungloved hand upon his. There was a second, a moment of hesitation, before she unbuckled the straps and he helped her out of her mask. The sight of her face made his cock quiver – not her breasts, her bottom, her thighs. Her face, because it had been such a forbidden fruit before. 

When her pink, pale face was once more visible, Dan could see the curious look in her bright green eyes. She was drawn immediately to the small shelf in his parlor, where a line of books stood propped.

She fingered the thick leather binding curiously. “’Glenda of the Redwoods’. 'The Loves of Pauline'. ‘Persuasion’. ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Dan, do you read romances?” she asked.

Dan blushed right up to his ears. “I…like to read happy stories,” he admitted.

She didn’t mock him – simply went to work unbuttoning his suit, until he was stripped to the waist. Then he knelt between her spread knees and pulled down her bloomers, while she tugged up her shift.

He stared up her body, the smooth, ivory planes of her form, the soft curves of breast and hip and buttocks, the dark red hair between her legs and the soft, lush divide between them. Holly flushed all over when she caught him staring; feeling perhaps too exposed, she slid a hand between her legs and covered herself.

Dan went lower in response. “You’re so pink,” he murmured, parting her knees gently. “Though I suppose that makes sense,” he said, and planted kisses along her inner thighs, feeling her muscles flex. “It wouldn’t…make sense…if you were blue down there…”

“ _Dan!_ ,” she said, and he couldn’t tell if her urgency meant that she found his prattling embarrassing or that she couldn’t stand to wait.

“You smell like beautiful things growing, and dust, and warm leather stretched in the sun. And you feel like silk in my mouth,” he said. Instead of trying to delve between her fingers he kissed the backs of them, holding her up with the strength of his own grip.

She looked down at him. In her green eyes so many things glowed; warmth, acceptance, fondness, lust. Maybe love. If he really looked hard enough up at her, he swore he could see the love in her eyes. 

He smiled up at her, nuzzling against her fingers with the tip of his nose.

Those digits wavered in their tight grip and relaxed, gently. The sweet bloom between her legs smelled hotly of herself, of lace and secret things. 

Dan licked them and locked eyes with her as he delved into the secrets she offered. 

Holly made soft, shuddering sounds of relief as Dan feasted upon her; half-muffled by her hand, a little embarrassed but quite impassioned. She was wet before his tongue tasted her but Dan was determined, almost frantic to please her. He teased her clitoris and then slipped his tongue back as far as he could reach, until her hands cupped the top of his head and her knees began to buckle in his touch. He wished he could press his fingertips inside of her, but not in this position, not with her pressing tight and warm against his mouth.

“Do you want me to make you come like this?” he asked her.

She nodded. Her grip on his hair was painfully tight as he concentrated on getting her there. The faster his tongue moved the more her legs shook, and the more she shook the louder her moans grew. He kept teasing, kept jabbing at her, kept trying to make her come. His hand squeezed her knees and his mouth played with her clit, until Holly’s head fell back on a desperate moan. He felt her grow wetter, the little bead of her arousal swelling between his lips when he gently sucked it until her torso rippled and she shook softly in his grip. He didn’t stop until she called out and shuddered, dripping down his chin, his neck. 

He heard his name and opened his eyes, gently removing himself from the sweet-sour haven between her legs.

Dan stood stiffly, his knees creaking, his cock aching in his breeches. “I remember…” he began, but suddenly he was tackled to the ground, and Holly’s face was close to his, sloppily kissing him. Dan opened his lips and sucked on her tongue, and then she pulled away, was kissing her way down his body, and then she was pulling the fly of his pants open and shoving them down his thighs – and he writhed to help her, trying to feel her bare fingers on his skin. Then her mouth was….

“Oh!” he gasped, and she desperately took him between her lips and down her throat. She choked, and he made cooing, soothing sounds, running his fingers through the pink fringe of her hair. “You don’t have to,” he whispered.

She shook her head, and took him determinedly down her throat again.

Dan, pinioned in place by ecstasy, tried not to thrust into her throat. Holly took him, sucked on him, by inches, and he accepted it all, lying back, moaning, burying his own face in the fluff of his hair. Dan was babbling, about how beautiful she was, about how lucky he was to be her chosen man, how he couldn't fathom her wanting to be with a simple bartender. 

Her answer to his babbling was a blush, and a quickened movement around his cock. She knew how to get him off – after so much lavish build up, stamina was a foreign idea to his fuzzy brain. “I’m gonna come,” he warned her desperately. Holly pulled up off of his cock - her hands cupped his balls, her tongue moving lavishly under the heated tip of his shaft. She started working him with her hand, staring in fascination at his cock as it grew purple, the rest of him growing red, Dan trying in vain to keep the eye contact going, but in the end his whole body shuddering and breaking apart into a mess of desire and relief. Everything in him tightened and then pulsed outward in a long, wet, wave, covering her fist, his belly, her arm.

It was incredibly messy. So messy that he presumed she wanted some kind of out for the situation. He loved her desperately for her valor, for her love of his body, for the freedom with which she gave herself. Because she was Holly, and because everything about her seemed to be made of magic.

“Mmm. Dan. Oh…” And there was a flicker of panic running through her features, but she tamped it down, rubbed her hand against his hip until it was clean, and took a tiny taste of the come he’d left on her skin. She left a series of frenzied kisses up and down his torso, just to under his breast bone, before kissing him one more time.

Dan flushed, reached for her kiss and took a tiny sip of her lips. Her eyes were sparkling when she pulled back. 

“Where’s your bathroom?” she asked.

He pointed to a spot a few inches away, where a tub and a toilet and a sink stood. She nodded, got up on shaking feet, and headed off. A few moments later she emerged with a towel, and then headed to the bookshelf, plucking one off of the wall.

“This is my favorite,” she admitted, as he mopped himself clean. “Do you mind if I read it out loud?”

He shook his head, setting the towel aside. He thought to himself that they really ought to move to the safety of the bed. But that would be an idea for another hour.

She picked up the book and crawled into his embrace, pulling it open to read it by the moonlight. “It is a truth universally acknowledged,” she read, her chin burrowing into the soft flesh of Dan’s side, “that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife…”.


End file.
